Key Lime Pie with Homemade Whipped Cream Topping

*Once again, I'll add a picture after the technical difficulties with that camera are resolved. But pretty much all key lime pies look the same.

They served us a little (very little) piece of this at the end of my Central Market Seafood 101 class. I made it last week along with the fancy seafood recipes that were in the packet for one giant dinner!


For the crust (or buy a crust if you'd rather):

• 1 1/2 cups of graham cracker crumbs
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 6 tbsp. butter

Preheat the oven to 350. Combine the crust ingredients and press into a 9" pie dish with a fork. Bake it for 10 minutes and cool it completely.


For the filling:

• 6 egg yolks at room temperature
• 1/4 cup sugar (I used Splenda, worked perfectly. It will be pretty tart at this quantity, so add more if you want it sweeter.)
• 14 ounces of sweetened condensed milk
• 2 tbsp. lime zest
• 3/4 cup of key lime juice

A word on the lime juice: don't use the stuff in the little green bottle. That's not key lime juice and it doesn't taste the sameBuy about 20-25 key limes and juice them. It's the hardest part but it's not that bad if you have a juicer or just some type of juicing tool. Remember to strain for seeds afterward.

Beat the egg yolks and sugar with a whisk. Add the milk, zest, and juice. Pour it in the pie shell and bake for 15 minutes. Cool it completely, first at room temperature, then in the fridge.

For the topping:

• 1 cup of cold heavy whipping cream
• 1/4 cup of sugar (Again, Splenda works just the same here.)
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• thin slices of lime or strawberries (for garnish)

Beat the heavy cream on high speed with a mixer, using the whisk attachment. Add the sugar and vanilla after soft peaks form, then beat it until stiff peaks form. Smooth it over the pie with a spatula, and then garnish with fruit slices.